Food safety advice for staying healthy while staying home

With many COVID-19 related messages on social media, you may have seen questionable food safety messages. Current research advises using the same good food handling practices that you’ve been using.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on their Food Safety and Covid-19 website, “Currently there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that in general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely a very low risk of spread from food products or packaging shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures. It is more likely that a person will be exposed by person-to-person transmission involving close contact with someone who is ill or shedding the virus.”

Washing fruits and vegetables

Do NOT use dish soap, detergent or bleach to rinse, soak and wash fresh produce. These products are not intended to be eaten.

Before use, rinse well under running water only the fruits and vegetables you plan to prepare or eat at that time.